On October 14, the Connect to Success team traveled to Porto and Coimbra to announce the women owned businesses selected to work with teams of student consultants in the MBA/Masters Consulting Program. In Porto, an orientation was held at UPTEC for students from the Porto Business School (PBS) and the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP) for the women owned businesses with which they had been matched. A reception followed that included the various participants and partners in the program. In Coimbra, an orientation was held at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC) that also included the students, women entrepreneurs and faculty.
The MBA/Masters Consulting Program offers women entrepreneurs and their businesses an opportunity to get a specific business challenge addressed by teams of MBA and Masters Students over the duration of a semester. This provides an incredible opportunity for the women entrepreneur to get a business problem or goal addressed by a team of students, and for the students to apply their newly acquired business and consulting skills to real projects, thereby gaining practical experience and insight giving them real experience in their area of expertise. Student consulting groups may, for example, assist a WOB to create a business plan, devise a strategy for the introduction of a product or service, identify potential acquisition candidates, create and install a new business processes, develop a marketing strategy, evaluate operational practices, and/or build a strategy to attract investment.
As an example of how useful the program is for both the entrepreneurs and student’s personal growth and ability to get a job, participants from Porto said, “Our experience with C2S’s MBA/Masters Consulting program was very insightful, leading to an internal analysis of my company and, therefore, improvements in its functioning. Thank you to the Connect to Success Team for providing us with this opportunity.” – Mariana Morgado Pedroso, Architect Your Home Portugal, Consultee, PBS. Also, Juan Enrique Mogue Ruiz, Consultant, FEP, also said that “I am currently working at a startup, and one of the main reasons I got the job was because of my experience in the Connect to Success Program. So, I am very thankful to the program, probably without that experience I would not be working where I am right now.”
